"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Leviticus 17:11

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Leviticus 17 

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, saying,

What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,

And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:

To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord.

And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord.

And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.

And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,

And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.

And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.

For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean.

But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.
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The Blood
“It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11).
The blood of Christ is the true ground of peace. When nothing else could save, God spared not His own Son. The death of Christ both satisfies the demands of law and justice, and saves the sinner that believes. It is only in the finished work of the cross that we see salvation for the lost. When Jesus shed His blood for the remission of sins, He glorified God, and opened a fountain for sin and for uncleanness.
Without shedding of blood is no remission (Heb. 9:22).
Therefore it is written, that
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul (Lev. 17:11).
The salvation of sinners has always been connected with blood-shedding and death. The reason is obvious. Sin’s wages is death. The law of holiness and truth is, that the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Death, then, is God’s just appointment to man, because he is a sinner. Man dies only because of sin. Death entered into the world by sin. The only way, therefore, of justly putting away sin was by death; and that no sinful man could die for the sin of another is clear, because he must die for himself. The Son of God, on whom death had no claim (because He knew no sin), was able to die for others. Nothing less than His death could save us, because we deserved death. Therefore, in matchless grace, Christ died for us — the just for the unjust.
Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3);
and as the life of the flesh is in the blood, so the shedding of blood is spoken of, in Scripture language, as the laying down of life. Hence we are told that
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul (Lev. 17:11).
The atoning blood God only provides. His love presents it to us; and the virtue of the blood is carefully recorded in the word of God from the earliest time of sin’s entrance into the world. No sooner had Adam sinned than he had an evil conscience, and got away from God. He tried all he could to cover his nakedness, and to hide himself from the presence of his Maker. But God searched him out, and, instead of condemning him, promised a Redeemer to deliver him by having his heel bruised; and showed him that He could clothe him and his wife, though sinners, with coats, and bring them into the place of life and blessing by sacrifice. Thus God taught our first parents, and thus they learned that
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Abel is next presented to us in the Scripture, as offering unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. It was a life that he offered. He took of the firstlings of the flock. His sacrifice prefigured the blood-shedding and death of Jesus. Abel thus acknowledged that he was a sinner before God, justly exposed to death and judgment, but that he
rested only in the blood-shedding and death of the promised Redeemer,
and thus
obtained witness that he was righteous (Heb. 11:4).
In Noah’s time, we also see that the blessing of God came down upon the earth because of the sweet savour of the clean beasts, which the patriarch offered in sacrifice to Jehovah. Judgment had been poured out by the windows of heaven being opened, and the fountains of the great deep being broken up; but when the clean sacrifices were offered, we are told that
the Lord smelled a sweet savour
— a savour of rest;
and the Lord said, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, etc. (Gen. 21, 22)
Thus showing us that God can only find rest, since sin entered the world, in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and that in this way only can He bless us. Here again we see the value of the blood.

The well-known story of the paschal lamb tells out also most strikingly, that there is safety only beneath the shelter of the blood. The sentence of judgment had gone forth upon Egypt. All the first- born were to be destroyed in one night. Neither rich nor poor, moral nor immoral, were excepted. God’s word had gone forth,
All the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die (Ex. 11:5).
But was there no way of escape for any from such terrible judgments? Yes, there was a way, one way, one way only — the blood of the lamb. The children of Israel were told to take an unblemished lamb, kill it, and sprinkle the blood upon the lintel and doorposts of their houses; and God’s promise to such as thus used the blood was,
When I see the blood, I will pass over you (Ex. 12:13)!
And it came to pass that every house marked with the blood was passed over by the destroying angel, and every house that was not marked with blood He entered, and executed the threatened judgment; so that
there was not a house where there was not one dead (Ex. 12:30).
The difference consisted simply in the shelter of the blood. Not in their seeing the blood, but in God’s seeing it.
When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
Their safety was not in what they thought of the value of the blood, but in what God thought of it. The only question was, as to whether they, in the knowledge that judgment was coming, were under the shelter of the blood. It was not a question as to their being in a great house or small, or whether they where ignorant or learned, young or old, high or low; the only question as to safety was, whether they were trusting in the blood. Those who accepted God’s remedy in the blood, sprinkled their lintel and door-posts, and remained in their houses, under cover of that blood, until the destroying angel had passed over. Safety alone was in the blood. Thus showing us again that
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul (Lev. 17:11).
The ordinance of cleansing the leper also remarkably sets forth the value of the blood. The leprosy might be much or little, many spots or few, old standing or recent, still the leper was unclean — utterly unclean — unfit for the camp of Israel, until he was sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice. All other washings were in vain — every other remedy was useless. He might go here or there, do this or that, cover up his spots, and hide his sores, still he was utterly unclean. But the moment he was sprinkled with the blood he was pronounced clean. It was the blood that made the difference. It was the blood that cleansed the unclean. We are told,
Then shall the priest sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from his leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean (see Lev. 14:7).
How blessed this is! How clearly it illustrates that
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Let me only add on this point, that directly the leper was pronounced clean, the living bird, having been identified with the dead bird by being dipped in its blood, was
let loose into the open field (see Lev. 14:7);
so the resurrection of Christ from the dead is God’s public proof that Christ had by Himself purged our sins with His own blood.

We find the Holy Ghost again putting honor upon the blood, and showing its vital importance in the beautiful action of the high priest entering into the holy place (Lev. 16). The apostle Paul, commenting on this, tells us in Heb. 9, that into the holiest of all
went the high priest alone, once every year, not without blood (Heb. 9:7).
And why not without blood? Because nothing else shelters sinful man from the wrath of God but the blood; for nothing else remits sin. It would have been death to Aaron to enter into the holiest of all without blood. Moses was thus commanded:
"Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times. . . within the vail before the mercy seat, . . . that he die not; for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place, with a bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering . . . and he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and shall sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward; and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times" (Lev. 16:2, 3, 14).
Thus we see another witness to the value of the blood, as being the way of access into God’s presence, and showing us again that
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
And I ask the reader to mark these various testimonies of Scripture to the efficacy of the blood, and to consider whether the evidence is not conclusive, that those only are on the true ground of peace and blessing whose confidence is in the blood — the precious blood of Christ. Nothing less than the blood could shelter Israel, cleanse the leper, or enable the high priest to stand in God’s presence; neither can anything but the blood of Christ cleanse the conscience, give peace in God’s presence, or shelter any from the wrath to come."

Hugh Henry Snell 
Streams of Refreshing From the Fountain of Life



Photo by Johny Goerend on Unsplash (modified in Lunapic)

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I'm a Christian saved by God, by His Sovereign grace. I want to encourage all to read, to hear, to believe, and to feed upon the only Words in all the world that are truly spirit and life, living and active; to know the One True God: God the Father, His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit; Who has graciously given us the Holy Scriptures
“All Scripture is God-breathed..."
2 Timothy 3:16–17; cf., John 3:31-36; John 6:63; John 14:26; John 17:3, 17; Romans 1:1-6, 16-17; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Peter 1:20–21; Hebrews 4:12-13. As for the commentaries I post and refer to; with much gratitude, as they have done for me, it is my hope and prayer that they serve to edify all who read them.

Shalom, beccaj
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